


Used to

by Control_Room



Series: 3-D [1]
Category: Bendy and the Ink Machine
Genre: Awkwardness, Enemies to Friends, Friendship, Gen, Gift Fic, Illustrated, Multiverse, my art
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-12
Updated: 2019-04-12
Packaged: 2020-01-11 23:29:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18434354
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Control_Room/pseuds/Control_Room
Summary: How the three members of Frosty feel after they have been unfused, and are stuck in the same house.Or, the awkward stage of amiability after being enemies.





	Used to

**Author's Note:**

  * For [PipesFlowForeverandEver](https://archiveofourown.org/users/PipesFlowForeverandEver/gifts), [AceofIntuition](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AceofIntuition/gifts), [BallofYarn](https://archiveofourown.org/users/BallofYarn/gifts).



It had been some time since Johan had managed to unfuse Frosty, yet it was on their request. He later described his method as ‘resetting each of the three parameters to their proper functions’, though we are not here to explore how code effects beings who are not made from it.

 

We are here to see the result of it.

 

Now, Johan had instructed them to all remain in the same dimension until accidental merging were to stop. It was not so usual for Gingie to touch Snowy and then find himself unable to release his shoulder or arm, and vice versa. It was less likely for Hyde to end up stuck to one of the two others, but it had happened when he accidentally tripped over one of Snowy’s legs, pitching forward to be caught by Ginge, leaving both of them stuck to him.

 

So they stayed together. It was not exactly _uncomfortable_ , the three of them in Snowy’s home, though it surely was awkward. There were instances of disagreeable circumstances certainly, especially due to the unpleasant, lingering memories of what Hyde had done. In regards to this, Hyde had been given what he had prayed for.

 

While Mary Jane was delighted to see her fathers all together and separated, there was a moment of tension when she caught Hyde’s eye. The man gave her a small stuttering wave, and she blinked and rubbed her eyes, wondering if she was still dreaming, and that he was not really there. After a few seconds, she ran to his arms, and he held her tightly, vowing in his heart to never let anything separate them again. Not permanently or maliciously, at least. He would like to see grandchildren, of course. Healthy, the word resonated in his head, healthy, alive, and safe.

 

Meeting Ivy, meeting her properly, was also a surprise, a wonderful one. The ‘deadly’ sheep was only deadly in the form of harmless pranks and an excellent sense of humor. Hyde wondered if he it truly was possible to die from laughing after spending some time with her and Mary Jane together. Separate, Ivy was a bit less bearable, but her personally was sweet at core.

 

And then Joy. Snowy had not been the most amiable with having her and Hyde in the same house together, let alone the same room, but the charming girl swiftly befriended the ‘new’ old man, and Gingie reasoned with the fact that they were stuck together, anyways, and it would be difficult to keep them away. Hyde caught himself calling Joy his daughter in his head, and decided it would not be wise to tell Snowy or Gingie, or Joy for that matter. He would surely not be welcome back once he was able to leave.

 

This occured to Hyde as he was reading on the couch while the girls did their homework. Looking over at them, and seeing his little girl’s face, seeing all three of his little girls’ faces, something skewered a stabbing pain in his heart. Could he just go and take Mary Jane and Ivy from their sister? From happiness, from tranquility? Could he take them from their new fathers?

 

The answer hurt him.

 

He thought he would.

 

He thought he would be able to, but now, looking over to them as they worked through word problems together, his heart ached, a quiet, simple, no.

 

He closed his book and went over to help them, and later, since it was raining, did a good deal of puzzles with them as they ate dinner. Spend as much time as he could with them.

 

The rain had slowed to a drizzle by the time Mary Jane and Joy were going through movies for the four of them to watch. Then Gingie and Snowy returned from shopping, Gingie calling out for the girls’ assistance with getting the items into their home. Hyde, with a sigh, pushed himself off the couch that he had reseated himself, letting the cassette (it was a cassette, right?) play through commercials, and went to assist by putting things into the refrigerator. He was doing so when Gingie entered with three large sacks of flour.

 

Hyde rose a questioning eyebrow at the rather comical scene.

 

“Oh, Hyde, don’t put the eggs away yet,” Gingie smiled at him, setting the bags on the counter, taking the container from Hyde’s hands. “I’m going to bake quite a bit today!”

 

“Ah.” Was his plain response. “Alright, Ginger.”

 

Snowy entered the kitchen, setting down a few baking supplies on the table, giving Hyde a glance, the items to go into the refrigerator, and nothing else.

 

“While Ana is delightful,” Gingie continued, pulling out ingredients as other groceries were placed where they belonged, “I’ve found the kitchen lacking in little treats other than candy. Another thing I’ve discovered is that baking truly brings the family together, if only a bit.”

 

He looked over at Hyde, still smiling, looking at him as though he was looking for something.

 

“Wouldn’t you agree?”

 

Hyde shrugged. He was not quite in the mood of talking.

 

He missed Magenta, if only for someone who was neither gruff or condescending toward him, but rather his friend. While he knew that Gingie was… more reasonable than Snowy, he did find him patronizing at times.

 

“Would you like to bake with me?” he asked… still examining him with those eyes. Those eyes that seemed to read everything about him, those eyes that shared a head with him! Those eyes that demanded answers he did not have! The question was innocent and kind, sure, but Hyde felt a scowl tug his lips, and he roughly shook his head, turning away. “Oh. Alright. Maybe some other time?”

 

“Maybe.” was his hoarse reply. He finished putting all the new foodstuffs away, and was leaving the room as Joy and Mary Jane ran in, laughing and chasing each other. Ivy followed behind, though she seemed to be lagging and yawning. Hyde smiled softly, kneeling and opening his arms to pick her up. She nearly waddled into his arms, and he passed Snowy as he bore her away upstairs to the girls’ room. He could hear Joy and MJ laughing beneath him in the kitchen as he tucked the ink girl into bed. He was just about to go downstairs when Gingie called out something, Snowy yelled, there were twin shrieks, and all fell silent. Hyde froze in his tracks. What happened? Were they okay? He rushed into the kitchen, and nearly passed out from the sight. The four of them were ghosts standing in a room of dust. Frantically, Hyde looked about on the floor for bodie- no. No, he realized, they did not die and return to the world of the living. They merely, all of them, were covered in head to toe in flour. The culprit was a ripped sack between the stunned Mary Jane and the surprised Joy’s hands. Evidently, they both wanted to help ‘Tio Gingie’ with baking, and they had fought over who should give the flour bag to him. They were staring at each other, Gingie turning his fingers into windshield wipers to clear his glasses. Then they all looked up at a noise, which got louder after a moment. Hyde covered his mouth as he laughed, the sight of all his family together and looking so bewildered was just so wonderful an- Family. His laughter slowly softened and his smile slipped off his face. They were his family, all of them, even Snowy and Ginger. Clearing his throat, he turned away and left the room. “I’m going on a walk while there’s still some light out.”

 

“I’m coming too!” Mary Jane quickly said, not wanting to be stuck with cleaning up the mess. Joy swiftly saw the reasoning of her logic, and chimed in with a, “Me too!”

 

“Uh,” Snowy began, realizing the girls’ thoughts, and still not quite trusting Hyde, decided to come along, and slinked out of the room after their daughters. “I’ll go with ‘em, Gingersnaps.”

 

“Oh, I see!” Gingie exclaimed after them with pseudo betrayal. “I’m the one left to clean up, aren’t I?”

 

Hyde watched as the faces of the three who decided to accompany turned pink, and he picked up his cane and pulled on his jacket, and slipped out, them following him.

 

Gingie chuckled, and a flick of his wrist and a spot of magic, all the flour lifted itself and into the bin. Pulling on a pink apron, he flicked through the recipe book in his head, and decided on which to make.

 

Outside, Hyde inhaled, enjoying the petrichor wafting in the springtime a slight zephyr rustling his hair and tousling the messy grey-brown, it also blowing the flour gently off the three others. Joy and Mary Jane rushed ahead, leaving Snowy and Hyde following after their daughters. The silence between the two older men was rather off, the fresh and new spring aura besmeared by sharp and antediluvian rift between them.

 

Their quiet steps only interrupted by their children’s chatter and the tacking of Hyde’s cane on the pavement, they both could feel something build up, and the uncomfortability increased with each step.

 

“So,” Hyde broke the tension, his words hesitating, and he found that had to force himself from quickening his pace. He then realized he did not know what to say. “Uh… so, How was your day…?”

 

Snowy’s electric blue icy eyes seemed to pierce him, and he swallowed roughly as he looked back with his own muted dichromatic orbs.

 

“It was fine,” he muttered and turned back to watch their girls. “Gingie nearly spent two hundred dollars on baking things and other shit.”

 

“How much did he end up spending?” Hyde inquired further, letting his shoulders relax. “Knowing him, he probably wanted to hold onto everything.”

 

“Yeah, he did,” Snowy agreed lightly, a smile creeping onto his face. “Still spent about sixty dollars.”

 

“Mhm,” Hyde chuckled. “A wonder he couldn’t convince you to buy more.”

 

“Oh, he tried,” Snowy replied, then pulled on an air of Gingie. “‘Just one more thing!’ ‘Come along, dear, let’s get this,’ and the such.”

 

“Sounds like you had fun,” Hyde remarked. Snowy hummed in agreement.

 

“We also went to get boba,” Snowy added, smiling at the recent memory. Hyde blinked. Whatever on Earth was a boba? “That was good, too. And you?”

 

It took a moment for Hyde to realize that his question had been redirected at him.

 

“Oh! I uh…” he offered a small smile. “ I read all day. Slept a little. Then spent some time with the girls and helped with their homework, and made them dinner.”

 

“Sounds productive,” was the wry response. Hyde chuckled. Their walk continued in peace, a quiet calm between them, the rift eased slightly. The street lights turned on, and they decided to call the girls back and began the walk home. He paused in the door, watching Snowy go in. “Wait.”

 

The man stopped.

 

“I never said this before,” Hyde swallowed, a literal and figurative gulp of his pride. “But thank you.”

 

Snowy did not say anything.

 

 

 

“For everything.” Hyde added, turning red.

 

“No problem,” he quietly muttered going in, leaving the door open for Hyde.

 

Smells of chocolate and cinnamon and sugar and other sweet scents permeated the air as they entered the house. Gingie sat in the kitchen with a sleepy Ivy on his chest as he waited for the last of the baked treats.

 

Hyde remarked, “I thought that I put her to bed already?”

 

“Oh, you did,” Gingie affirmed. “She had woken up while I was baking. Must have been the aroma.”

 

“It does smell nice,” Hyde admitted. Joy yawned, and Mary Jane clearly fought off one of her own. Hyde smiled at their daughters, scooping them both up, hooking his cane onto his arm. Gingie deposited Ivy alongside MJ in his arms, and Hyde took the three of them upstairs to set them to bed. Watching their retreating forms, Snowy felt a pit of unease growing in his chest. Hyde would not just… take off with the girls, right? Still… the worry stuck.

 

“Gingersnaps,” he muttered, motioning with his head to the staircase. Gingie nodded and they took off stealthily up the flight, Snowy stopping them as they peered round the bend into the girls’ room. To their relieved surprise, they found all the girls in place in their beds, Ivy sleeping soundly already, Joy enraptured (though nodding off) in a story Hyde was telling, and Mary Jane slowly slipping into the world of dreams. Hyde sat on the floor, cane beside him. Snowy chuckled softly, wrapping an arm around Gingie’s shoulder and pointing into the room. “Would ya look at that….”

 

 

Gingie said nothing, merely smiling.

 

The two of them returned downstairs, now assured that nothing averse would befall their kids. Gingie returned to the kitchen to remove the last item from the oven, cutting two pieces of the mint chocolate brownies he had made, handing one off to Snowy and taking the other for himself.

 

Snowy gestured to the living room, his mouth full. After swallowing, he wiped crumbs from his lips to speak.

 

“The girls left a movie playing,” he said, swallowing again, savoring the excellent skills of his best friend’s cookery. “Wanna make some popcorn and watch it?”

 

“Of course,” Gingie answered, stifling a yawn with a smile. Snowy grinned back, and went into the kitchen to toss a bag into the microwave. Gingie was waiting for him on the couch. A willowy figure stood in the doorway. Gingie noticed her and smiled. “Hello, dear Ana! Would you like to watch this movie with us?”

 

“No thanks,” she replied, stretching out her arms. “I just wanted to check on you two.”

 

“We’re great, Ana,” Snowy hummed, pressing a quick kiss to his wife’s cheek. The microwave beeped. “Are you sure you don’t want to watch?”

 

“Mhm,” she yawned. “I’m heading off to bed. You sit down, I’ll grab you boys your popcorn.”

 

“Thank you,” Gingie gratefully responded. Snowy joined him on the couch, where the movie (set on an autoplay repeat) was at some point in the beginning. Soon they found the popcorn in their hands, and they leaned against each other (rather, Gingie leaned against Snowy) and let the movie play.

 

Soon Snowy saw  Gingie’s hat slip off his head in the corner of his eye, signifying the man fell asleep. He smiled a little, and found his own eyes drifting shut, and then he was struggling to keep them open. Breathing slowed to match Gingie’s, head nodding off, heart slowing, the flicking  lights of the television doing nothing to keep him awake, and he drifted off.

 

 

There was a blanket covering them when they woke up. It was time for the near daily bustle of getting the girls to school and Gingie was about to leap up and help them, when he noticed it was quiet.

 

He turned around to face the whispering coming from the kitchen, and watched as Hyde gently handed each of them their lunches and kissed each of their heads before sending them off.

 

He smiled, relaxing back against Snowy.

 

Hyde walked by the living room, stepping carefully so as to not wake them.

 

“Thank you, dear,” Gingie quietly remarked with a smile, making him jump, his hand leaping to his heart. Gingie plucked at the blanket. “For this and sending the girls off to school.”

 

“It was nothing,” he gruffly replied, but felt happy from the gratitude. It had been a while since he had gotten any. It gave him pause. “It was a little bit.”

 

Gingie chuckled.

 

“Well, every bit counts, you know!” the optimist in the room proclaimed.

 

“Keep it down Gin,” Snowy yawned, stretching his arms out. “I haven’t had any coffee yet.”

 

“Hang on,” Hyde muttered, going into the kitchen and pouring out from the coffee pot he had just made, putting in two spoons of sugar, putting in a third for good measure. “Here.”

 

Snowy hummed and downed half of it in one swig.

 

Hyde was about to leave when he paused in the door, looking over at them, studying the scene.

 

“You’re not stuck together,” he quietly stated. There was a sudden silence. Hyde bit back an ache. “I’ll… I’ll go pack up then.”

 

Snowy and Gingie both gawked at him as he escaped upstairs.

 

They stood and followed after him to his shared room with Gingie.

 

“Wait, grouch,” Snowy tried to reason with him. “You don’t have to go.”

 

Hyde stared at him with half closed eyes.

 

And continued packing.

 

“God damn it,” Snowy grimaced. Talking like this was never his strong suit. He looked pleadingly at Gingie, asking him silently to get him to stay.

 

“Hyde, dear,” he began softly. The steel mask on Hyde’s face seemed to wither. “The girls will miss you if you go.” He looked at Snowy. “It’s been a few months having you here with us, and I think I can safely say that… that we will miss you too.”

 

Hyde’s shoulders tensed, and he shook his head without a word.

 

“Please, don’t go,” Gingie attempted again with a gesture at the bed. “I’ll let you have the bigger half.”

 

At this, he earned a stifled chuckle from the other old man.

 

“C’mon, grinch,” Snowy’s formerly antagonizing nicknames now had a softer tone. “I know we aren’t friends yet, but I don’t want you to leave yet. Maybe we can fix that.”

 

“Maybe.” Hyde said quietly. His shoulders fell, and sadness took over his face. “But… what can I do for you? It’s not like I can help with anything.”

 

“Just being around is something,” Gingie softly persuaded. “Dearest Hyde, don’t leave us just yet.”

 

Hyde thought.

 

What would he go back to? Desolation? He turned to them. As strange as it were, he found that he had taken a liking to his two former nemeses.

 

“Fine.”

 

He found himself in a tight hug.


End file.
